Call it a bop binge or whatever you want, but when pianist Jon Mayer and bassist Chuck Conner cozy up for a two-man concert Thursday night at the Merc, it will mark another chance for jazz hounds to dig into an evening of bop at its best.

The Mayer-Conner bop buddies will be the first in March to preach the spirited early modern jazz of the 1940s and beyond, but not the last. Al Williams, whose drumming roots are buried in bop, will be center stage at the Merc with his combo March 21 and a week later, piano bopper Ed Czach and his sidemen close out the month.

As for Mayer, if he had married the first instrument he fell in love with, he would be playing alto sax tonight rather than piano.

“My mother is classical pianist and I would fall asleep hearing he practice, but during the days, I would listen to jazz recordings,” he said. “And after hearing Parker on a ‘Jazz At the Philharmonic’ recording, I was hooked. I think Charlie had no equal and he was my first major influence though later pianists Bud Powell and Bill Evans also played roles in my development.”

Jazz at the Merc

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: The Merc, Old Town Temecula Community Theater, 42051 Main St., Temecula

You’d think since he continued to play a sax during the first three years at the prestigious High School of Music and Art in Manhattan the New York native, would still noodle on his sax for kicks. But no, he no longer owns one.

“Then was then and now is now,” he said. “Switching instruments wasn’t particularly difficult because it’s never been very hard for me to learn something new. And I am still learning, but my source is not playing as much as it from students who are taking private lessons from me. Learning is a two-way process.”

Mayer, whose program at the Merc will consist of songs he’s written and other jazz standards, has had a productive career. He has worked with the who’s who of jazz, including the likes of Milt Jackson and John Lewis, both members of the Modern Jazz Quartet; singers Sarah Vaughan, and the Manhattan Transfer. He also has recorded with the iconic John Coltrane and has written songs recorded by Nancy Wilson, Les McCann and others.

Not all his songs are intended for wide consumption.

“I am always making up little songs about family members,” Mayer said. “I wrote one for my grandma. It was pretty simple but it was a musical impression because I am an impressionist. It’s just the way I think.”

Though he’s been a high profile musician much of his life, there have been tough times, too. He all but dropped out of sight in 1978 to grapple with personal issues and didn’t resume his career until 13 years later. And it was another five years before a recording (“Round Up The Usual Suspects”) gave his career a needed shot in the arm.

Now 75, Mayer said he’s constantly excited about finding new depths and often feels like a new kid on the block as he continues to reach for the same goal as his hero, Parker, “to play fast and lean and go for the pretty notes.”